William Falk’s Editor’s Letters in The Week ….

April 3, 2009

I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy the magazine The Week. One of the highlights is the short Editor’s Letter by William Falk.

The March 21 Letter, for example, was a touching commentary on Falk’s blue-eyed daughter, who inherited the color of her eyes from her grandfather, Falk’s father.

On this day, I’d have to go to the hospital and tell the doctors to turn off the life-support equipment and set the unforgettable Byron Falk free, as he instructed in his living will. Jessie listened quietly, nodding, trying to understand. In those blue eyes, shining with tears, I saw the unbreakable chain of generations: Life.

The Letter from March 27th, Alone with One’s Self, was also striking for me. I, like Falk, actually enjoyed the solitude of my teen years most of the time. This should be read by everyone who twitters, writes blogs, text messages, emails, reads feeds, and — again, like me — generally stays connected all the damned time.

Truth is, there were times in my teen years when I would have killed for the distraction of some online friends. But I don’t envy the Facebook generation. Living in the blab-o-sphere, with a half-dozen open channels at all times, seems more like a burden than a pleasure, and the endless back-and-forth more an addiction than a choice. I know: I sound like crotchety old Andy Rooney, scowling at this newfangled world from beneath the disapproving hedge of my eyebrows. But there is something to be said for looking for solace, and clues, inside your own being.

Oh, how I miss that solitude sometimes. And thank you, Mr. Falk, for letting me know I’m not alone.